“Rich as Croesus” refers to the king who first struck coins of pure gold and pure silver.

550 BC

Before him Lydia minted electrum, a natural alloy whose value was hard to check.

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The event

• Gold and silver coins of Croesusc. 550 BC · Sardis. King Croesus of Lydia began striking coins of pure gold and silver at Sardis instead of earlier electrum pieces. They are regarded as the world's first standardised gold and silver coinage.

6th century BC

More amazing facts

• 563 BC · 551 BC · 530 BC By traditional dating, the Buddha, Confucius and Pythagoras were contemporaries: all three lived in the 6th century BC.
• 547 BC The oracle did not lie to Croesus: a great empire did fall, his own. Herodotus says Delphi told the Lydian king that if he attacked Cyrus he would destroy a great empire.
• 539 BC The idiom 'the writing on the wall' comes from the fall of Babylon.
• 530 BC Pythagoras is said to have forbidden his followers to eat fava beans.
• 525 BC Legend says Persia conquered Egypt with the help of cats.
• 520 BC The word 'magic' is Persian in origin.

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